Years ago, I had a mini schnauzer that I groomed and she was a breeze. She'd calmly lay on her back so we could brush those tender under leg areas etc. Since that time, we moved to a home with tile floors. I've had a couple of ankle biters in our current home and have really struggled with grooming them. I'm not an expert but I have something I'm going to try with our next pup. This last week I've been studying video tutorials and one of the trainers had a wonderful suggestion. She said to help us with grooming to play or massage our pups everyday. Touch their paws and such to get them familiar with this touch so we can trim their nails. That's when I had an "aha," moment. See years ago, we played a lot on the padded carpet with our mini schnauzer. I'm recognizing that although I'd sit on the floor to play with the more current ankle biters, I wasn't doing this type of play with them, rolling them on their back and playing with their paws. I'm going to start doing this with the toy poodle, although she is 5, and begin with Pax when he arrives so hopefully grooming in the future will be a much more pleasant experience for us all. If you try it, let me know how it works for you. |